Poker players occasionally jinx themselves when forecasting competitive tournaments' results. Some of them brag on their social media profiles claiming that they are certain final tables' chip leaders and they end up getting busted first.
Mark Newhouse once claimed that he wouldn't finish ninth in another event. Surprisingly, he ended up finishing ninth in several consecutive World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Events.
Ethan "Rampage" Yau posted an anti-jinx twist a while back. He gradually improved his position in the $25,700 High Roller's 108-entrant field. Wynn Las Vegas held the World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championships tournament.
Yau held only seven big blinds when 12 players remained in the event and eleven places got paid. He stated that he would bubble the tournament and his assertion turned out to be true.
The Final Table's Results
- Ethan "Rampage" Yau – $894,240
- Kevin Rabichow – $518,940
- Taylor Paur – $328,320
- Elijah Berg – $226,260
- Ben Yu – $168,750
- Aram Oganyan – $133,920
- Tobias Schwecht – $109,890
- Justin Zaki – $92,880
- Justin Saliba – $81,000
Action at the Final Table
Justin Saliba exited the tournament in ninth place with $81,000 when he lost most of his chips using ace-jack on a draw-heavy board. Rabichow used pocket fives to make an incredible river call but Saliba failed to shake him off.
Saliba made a 60,000 early position all-in move when the blinds were 50,000/75,000/75,000a and Justin Zaki made a 575,000 re-shove. The former got an ace-five and the latter got an ace-nine. Fives didn't appear on the board hence resulting in Saliba's elimination.
Zaki followed Saliba in the eighth position despite collecting his chips. Aram Oganyan used ace-seven to open-shove 11 big blinds from the button and Zaki used ace-try to call five big blinds. The latter didn't get community cards and left the tournament.
Tobias Schwecht made the tournament's first six-figure score when he made a 250,000 min-raise from the button and called in. Taylor Paur made a 2,250,000 three-bet jam from the button.
Schwecht got pocket queens and Paur an ace-jack. But, an ace on the flop eliminated Schwecht in seventh place.
Oganyan followed him in the sixth position after being the short-stack. He used king-queen to raise 475,000 from under the gun and called his last 475,000 chips. Elijah Berg used pocket tens to shove 2,000,000 in the cutoff.
Even so, an ace-high board didn't help Oganyan. Ben Yu got busted in fifth place after using queen-eight of clubs to make a cutoff open-shove when blinds were 75,000/150,000/150,000.
Rabichow used jack-nine to call in the small blind and Paur made a big blind move using five-four. Both of them checked the flop and the latter fired on the turn after improving to two pair that the former folded out.
Yu drew to make a river chop, missed, and exited the tournament in fifth place. The four-handed play didn't seem to favor Yau since he had the smallest stack. He decided to use nine-eight of diamonds to make a 1,975,000 all-in move from the button.
Berg used ace-queen to re-shove. Yau flopped an open-ended straight draw and a flush draw. He got a flush from three of diamonds and Berg had an ace of diamonds.
A three on the river reduced Berg's stack to six big blinds and doubled Yau. The former recovered a few chips but left the table after losing to Rabichow in a coinflip.
Rabichow made a 500,000 min-raise before calling Berg's 2,475,000 shove. The latter showed ace-ten of clubs and the former pocket sevens that held on the board. They busted Berg in the fourth position earning him $226,260.
His elimination began three-handed play that ended after 20 minutes when Paur left the tournament in third place. Paur used ace-nine of clubs to complete a small blind and Yau used jack-eight of clubs to make an all-in 9,900,000 raise.
Paur called off 6,100,000 chips seeking a huge double. Yet, Yau won the hand after a club flush draw landed on the flop. He had a vital 3:1 chip lead when entering a heads-up match against Rabichow.
The tournament's final hand played after 30 minutes and Yau made an unexpected comeback. Rabichow completed a small blind at the 150,000/300,000/300,000a level and Yau made a 14,000,000 shove.
Rabichow called off 7,325,000 chips and held the queen-jack of spades while Yau had the king-jack of hearts. The former got a gutshot straight from a nine-high flop. Unfortunately, he finished second after the dealer put four of diamonds on the river while Yau won the title and first-place prize.
